This Is the Way...
'I Will Fight No More, Forever'
by Robin Webber
Today's news headlines continually blare forth the stark reality of a culture clash between the Western world and the world of Islam. Men and women of goodwill on both sides are being stretched and drawn to maintain their core values in an ever-changing road map to peace in the Middle East.
War very rarely leaves a country or region as it found it. The very nature or cause for war changes with the course of time. It can leave a lot of little people decimated and disillusioned along the way. People who are today's partners for peace can be transformed into tomorrow's adversaries if careful forethought is not given. No one necessarily plans it that way, but it happens. It's the nature of war as it twists and turns in the grip of geopolitical planners and mapmakers far from the smell of the battlefield.
Such a scenario was played out over 100 years ago in the Northwest region of the United States. Cultures clashed on a shrinking continent. The land between the Mississippi River and the Pacific Ocean was no longer big enough to maintain two equal but separate cultures. Longtime friends became enemies. As a result, people died. It was not a pretty picture. And for the moment, let's view it through the lens of one of America's wisest men, In-mut-too-yah-lat-lat, better known to a wider audience by his English name, Chief Joseph of the Nez Percé tribe.
Hearts that were friendly
Chief Joseph recounted late in his life how "the first white men of your people who came to our country were named Lewis and Clark. They brought many things which our people had never seen. They talked straight and our people gave them a great feast as proof that their hearts were friendly. They made presents to our chiefs and our people made presents to them. We had great many horses of which we gave them what they needed, and they gave us guns and tobacco in return. All the Nez Percé made friends with Lewis and Clark and agreed to let them pass through their country and never to make war on white men. This promise, the Nez Percé has never broken" (New Perspectives of the West, "Chief Joseph Speaks," Public Broadcasting System).
Read the full article at www.wnponline.org/wnp/wnp0406/way0406.htm
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Table of Contents that includes "'I Will Fight No More, Forever'"
Other Articles by Robin Webber
Politicians:
- _Increasing Poverty In Today's Technological World?
- _When the Angel Leaves the Storm, Part 2
- _Restoration: Will One Good Man Stand Up?
- _"Without Blood on My Hands"
- _Changes in Christian Scholars' Perspective on God's Law
- _The Justice and Judgment of God
- _Rightly Understanding 'Justification' and 'Righteousness'
- _With Justice for All
- _What Should I Do When Others Sin?
- _When the Angel Leaves the Storm, Part 2
- _We Hold These Truths...
- _A Brief History of America at War
- _History and Prophecy Coincide in Louisiana Purchase
- _The Ageless 'Heart Steps' of a Pilgrim's Walk
- _Restoration...'We Proceeded On'
- _Jamestown's Significance for Americans 400 Years On
- _Map: Captivity Routes
- _A Good Soldier
- _Ronald Reagan: In His Own Words
- _A Brief History of America at War
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